BAKUMATSU GIJINDEN ROMAN #1 - - Special Review

It feels good when your hunches are validated. Dropping into this
series cold, I felt like it just had to be based on some side-story
about one of Lupin III’s ancestors, because the lead seems exactly
like what the master thief would’ve looked like if he were operating in
historical Japan. Well, a little online research reveals that, in fact, Monkey
Punch did the character designs for this show, so my intuition proved right.

I also suspected that the lead might be voiced by Hiroaki Hirata, the
gruff and eccentric character actor who played the leads in TIGER & BUNNY
and SPACE BROTHERS. Turns out it’s actually Kazuya Nakai; whom I had previously
confused with Hirata when he was voicing Mugen in SAMURAI CHAMPLOO. While my
guess wasn’t right, it’s at least supporting my thesis that these two dudes
sound very similar, so double kudos on me.

Anyway, what about the show itself…?

This pilot was absolutely all over the place. What initially looked
like it was going to be the simple story of a Robin Hood-like hero in the Meiji
Restoration (I think?), somehow leads to the sublimely-absurd sight of that
same character transforming into a superhero and chopping an entire fortress in
half with his bare hand as if it were a stack of plywood. I’m still pretty
confused about how we got from Point A to Point C but, holy shit, if I wasn’t outrageously
entertained along the way.

There are plenty of other surreal non-sequitors in the show - - from
a couple of sack-cloth homunculi to a literal rain of coins to - - and I’m
just as befuddled as to how they all fit together. However, there’s just something
so inherently appealing about this good-natured n’er-do-well “Roman” that made
all that messiness play positively. Out of all of the pilots I’ve watched this
season, this is definitely one of most entertaining.

Roman went into very ridiculous territory in that last act. I was shocked that they would take it to superhero territory. The show is...alright. I think it feels like this is the type of show that's written hastily and has nowhere to go narritively, but it's at least light-hearted and silly.

I had reservations about this show after seeing clips that made the show seem all over the place. If you say that it is still entertaining I may end up watching it after all. I want to wait for a few more episodes to be released and then I will read comments on how the series is.

@Kino88: Start with what pic thats from the 1971 animation tv series.Then just work your way up. I cant say i have watched a bad luppin movie or tv series. but i havent seen the one that was on cartoon network either.

Back ta the main topic .This show after 3 episodes reminds me of..

So instead of the werid west ( west / fantasy ) we have Weird Genroku era (1688-1704) /weird science show.its has that feel of thats not historicaly right but it kinda works.

Its not for history purests for sure.Odd grovy mix of gunpoweder ,frankenstein science ,swords ,sorcery an super heroes kinda.I wil also day animation quality was pretty good.Their are moments where the character who you know who they look like almost tounge in cheeck hat tip to those characters.

one of these days' I have to sit down, and watch some Lupin, right after I figure out which of the many, many, different versions I should start with that is.....

Do what i did, you could start with Lupin part II it's the one that got dubbed and has the most references to the era it was made (it might get a chuckle out of you). The animation isn't as good as the 3rd or 1st series but that's because it has the longest consecutive episodes so i assume they cut a few corner to make so many. Castle of Caligastro has Lupin's sexual predator personality neutered, and Fugiko's less of bitch but it's good, most of the TV specials and Movies are good. My fav is 1$ Money Wars, except the series you don't need to watch them in any order. The Dubs are usually great.